Lay Her Among The Lilies

Salzer was talking sense when he had said visitors excited his patients. The effect on

Hopper was obvious, although it wasn’t until Bland brought in the lunch-trays that he showed

sighs of blowing up.

When Salzer and the visitors had gone. Hopper lay still, staring up at the ceiling, a heavy

scowl on his face. He remained like that until lunch-time, and paid no attention to any remark

I made, so I left him alone. I had plenty to think about anyway, and I wasn’t pining for his

society. But when Bland set the tray on the night table, he suddenly lashed out, sending the

tray flying across the room to land with a crash and a mess on the floor.

He sat up, and the look of him brought me out in goose pimples. His face altered so I

scarcely recognized him. It grew thinner, older and lined. There was a ferocious, trapped look

in his eyes you see in the eves of the fiercer beasts in the zoo. And the way Bland skipped out

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of his reach was as quick as the hop of a frog.

“Take it easy, baby,” Bland said, more from force of habit than to mean anything.

Hopper crouched down in the bed and stared at him as if willing him to come within reach,

but Bland wasn’t to be tempted.

“Just my goddamn luck,” he said savagely. “He has to chuck an ing-bing when I’m going

off duty.”

Laboriously he cleared up the broken crockery, piled the bits on the tray. By the time he

was through he seemed to have decided to ignore Hopper, who continued to watch him with

mad, glittering eyes.

“I’m going anyway, see?” he said to me. “I gotta date, and I’m not going to bust it. You’ll

be okay. He can’t reach you, and maybe he’ll snap out of it. He does, sometimes. If he starts

trying to walk up the wall, ring the bell. Quell’s on duty, but don’t ring unless you have to.

Okay?”

“Well, I don’t know,” I said doubtfully. I didn’t like the look of Hopper. “How long do I

get left alone?”

“Quell will be in every so often. You won’t see me ‘til tomorrow.” Bland said impatiently.

“If I don’t beat it now, Salzer will make me stay and watch the punk. I’m the only one who

can do anything with him.”

An idea jumped into my mind. I didn’t like being left with Hopper. It gave me the shakes

just to look at him, but with Bland out of the way and the handcuff key within reach, there

was a chance to start something.

“So long as someone’s within call,” I said, settling back on my pillow. “But I’d just as soon

go with you. How about it?”

He grinned.

“My frill is screwy enough without you being around.”

He took Hopper’s wrecked meal away while I tried to eat, but Hopper’s heavy breathing

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and the way he glared at the opposite wall, his face working, turned my stomach. After a

couple of attempts to get the food down, I pushed the tray away. What I wanted was a

cigarette. I wanted that more than anything in the world.

Bland came back after a while. He had changed out of his white uniform, and now looked

so smart I scarcely recognized him. His hand-painted tie nearly made me colour blind.

“What’s up?” he said, looking at my tray. “Think it’s poisoned ?”

“Just not hungry.”

He glanced at Hopper who had again crouched down in the bed as soon as he saw him and

was glaring at him murderously.

“Well, he won’t put me off my fun,” he said with a grin. “Just take it easy, baby. Don’t bear

down on it.”

“I want a cigarette,” I said, “and if I don’t get one I’ll raise the alarm before you get out of

the house.”

“You can’t have a cigarette,” Bland said. “You nuts aren’t safe with matches.”

“I don’t want a match; I want a cigarette. Light it for me and leave me a couple more. I’ll

chain smoke. If I don’t have a smoke I’ll flip my lid. You don’t want two of us on your

hands, do you?”

He parted with the cigarettes reluctantly, lit one for me and edged to the door.

“Tell Quell to keep away from him.” he said at the door. “Maybe he’ll settle down when

I’ve gone. Whatever he does, don’t ring that bell for five minutes. Give me time to get clear.”

Hopper made a sudden grab at him. hut he was too far away to do more than disturb the air

around Bland, but the way Bland skipped through the door told me he was scared of Hopper.

And so was I.

The afternoon was the longest I have ever lived through. I didn’t dare attempt to get the

handcuff key in the chest of drawers. I had no idea when Quell was likely to make an

appearance, and then there was the problem of Hopper. I didn’t know if he was likely to start

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something if I got out of bed. I knew I had only one chance to get at the key, and if I fluffed

it, I wouldn’t get another. I decided the attempt would have to be made at night, when Hopper

was asleep and Quell in bed. That meant I had to avoid being drugged, and I hadn’t an idea

how that was to be done.

As soon as Bland had gone, Hopper quieted down. He ignored me, and lay staring at the

opposite wall, muttering to himself, and running his fingers through his thick, fair hair. I tried

to catch what he was saying, but the words came to me only as a jumble of discordant sound.